If you really have missed the Rock Band boat, I’ll do my best to bring you up to speed, but if you’re looking for in-depth stuff on each instrument, I highly recommend November’s six-page opus because these are the same instruments — mic, guitar and drums — as the PS3 model. Now, take everything you know about playing in Guitar Hero and Karaoke Revolution and apply that to the instruments I just mentioned.

Colored notes — they’re rectangles in Rock Band and not the traditional circles from Guitar Hero — fall from the top of the screen and you need to push the corresponding button on your guitar controller — which doubles as a bass and lead guitar — while strumming to nail the note. The drums are similar — notes fall and you hit the corresponding colored pad or stomp the kick pedal.

Singers are relegated to the top of the screen in Rock Band multiplayer (bottom of the screen in single player) and croon the words as they come from the right. Green bars are stretched above each syllable or word itself letting you know how long you should be singing them and the vertical placement of the line lets you know how high or low your tone should be.